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Thanks Debby, great article.

No, no I know, shoot, shoot for the gun, that would be a really good shot……butttttt………how about shooting for the hand that’s holding the gun. Then nobody gets hurt. Right? Just because we knock them down by shooting them in the leg doesn’t mean that we have ended the threat. The hands are still shooting.

United States Air Force code.

THE USE OF DEADLY FORCE, THE UNITED STATES MILITARY CODE.

The use of deadly force is that amount of force which is necessary to stop a specific threat and is to be used as a last resort to protect my life, the life of another, or information or material vital to the national defense.

Or something like that. At 62 years of age I have tried to live by that creed.

A leg shot would be nice. But when your heart is ready to burst out of your chest, and your so full of adrenalin, your whole body feels like it’s trembling. Your mind is going a thousand miles an hour. Your breathing, lets not forget our breathing, it’s supplying the oxygen to ours hearts and minds.

To add to that, physically our body is going through massive changes. All of our senses are heightened during any altercation. Officers involved in shooting usually display, immediate signs of stress. Even the human eye becomes constricted.

So…. All of this brought on by an immediate sense of threat of the possibility of death. Him or me, someone has the highest potential ending his life.

As member of the Officer involved shooting team for Border Division, California Highway Patrol, I was witness to all these symptoms in officers.

The human bodies mass is what we train because it is the most reliable. Our end result is to have it done quickly and end the threat.